The deputy head of a ring that distributed imported narcotics via Telegram was sentenced to an additional prison term, separate from an existing finalized verdict.
According to legal sources on the 3rd, the Seoul Central District Court Criminal Division 34 (presiding judge Han Sung-jin, senior judge) last month sentenced A, the deputy head of a drug trafficking ring indicted on charges including psychotropic drugs under the Act on the Aggravated Punishment of Specific Crimes, to three years and six months in prison.
A was additionally indicted on charges of bringing about 1,230 MDMA tablets, commonly known as ecstasy, into the country and receiving and managing 460 ml of synthetic marijuana from December 2023 to January 2024. A was found to have conspired in Aug. 2023 with the ring's head to smuggle in ecstasy and synthetic marijuana through an overseas seller.
A had already received a finalized prison sentence in the same drug trafficking ring case. A was sent to trial on charges of purchasing 2,000 ecstasy tablets from an overseas seller and bringing 526 of them into the country, and last April the Supreme Court finalized a five-year prison term.
The court found the nature of the crime poor, considering the amount of narcotics A handled, the number of offenses, and the methods used. The court said, "Narcotics crimes harm public health and cause addicts to commit other crimes, inflicting significant harm across society," adding, "There is a need to respond sternly."
However, the court explained that it determined the sentence in consideration of the fact that this additional indictment case and the already finalized case are in a concurrent-offense relationship.